Research Infrastructure… job at Ellison Institute of Technology

Ellison Institute of Technology is hiring: Research Infrastructure Specialist, Plant Biology Institute. Join us at EIT: At the Ellison Institute of…

Company: Ellison Institute of Technology · Work mode: on site · Contract: Full-time

Join us at EIT:
At the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT), we’re on a mission to translate scientific discovery into real world impact. We bring together visionary scientists, technologists, engineers, researchers, educators and innovators to tackle humanity’s greatest challenges in four transformative areas:
• Health, Medical Science & Generative Biology
• Food Security & Sustainable Agriculture
• Climate Change & Managing CO₂
• Artificial Intelligence & Robotics
This is ambitious work - work that demands curiosity, courage, and a relentless drive to make a difference. At EIT, you’ll join a community built on excellence, innovation, tenacity, trust, and collaboration, where bold ideas become real-world breakthroughs. Together, we push boundaries, embrace complexity, and create solutions to scale ideas from lab to society. Explore more at www.eit.org .

Welcome to the Plant Biology Institute:
The Plant Biology Institute, headed by Professor Steve Kelly, is a key part of the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT) Oxford. The institute aims to develop impactful and commercially sustainable solutions for improving global food production and planetary health through pioneering plant science research.
The Plant Biology Institute will unite world-class researchers who are focused on expanding the frontiers of plant science. Our research is focused on enhancing our ability to feed the planet while simultaneously improving the climate and ecosystem outcomes of food production. By embedding cutting-edge plant science research within an organisation that is focused on solving global challenges at scale, we aim to accelerate the timeline from discovery to global impact.
Areas of exploration include:
• Improved plant productivity, both indoors and outside.
• Reduced reliance on inputs including water, fertilisers, pesticides, and herbicides.
• Novel decarbonised plant-based production platforms for food and medicines.
• Advanced technologies that speed up discovery and deployment in plants.
Researchers will have access to state-of-the-art laboratory and plant growth facilities and have opportunities to collaborate with experts at the forefront of research on AI, automation, and generative biology across the EIT ecosystem. They will also work with global leaders in market development, commercialisation, and impact creation. The Plant Biology Institute has long-term substantial funding to support the unique scale and ambition of its vision.

Your Role:
EIT is seeking a responsive, detail-oriented and reliable Research Infrastructure Specialist to support the design, construction and customisation of cutting-edge experimental laboratories and associated facilities within the Plant Biology Institute. The role will help ensure that essential, delegated details and tasks are tracked and executed on time with excellent communication and visibility to colleagues and stakeholders. This is an impactful role that will play a key role converting the ambitious goals of EIT into real, working laboratories to support global impact. This role has significant growth potential depending on the capabilities and interests of the candidate.

Your Responsibilities:
Project coordination and delegated delivery:
• Translate agreed priorities into practical task plans with owners, milestones and deadlines; maintain an overview of progress and follow up outstanding actions.
• Deliver assigned work packages within agreed scope, timescales and authority, identifying dependencies and escalating risks or decisions early.
• Maintain project schedules, action logs, risk and issue registers, and decision records; prepare concise progress updates for the Head of Research Infrastructure.

Planning and design support:
• Coordinate the collection of research requirements for laboratories, support spaces, greenhouses and plant growth facilities; maintain room and equipment requirements schedules.
• Arrange design reviews, collate comments from researchers and technical specialists, and track queries and agreed changes through to resolution.
• Record equipment needs for space, access, utilities and environmental conditions, obtaining technical information from suppliers and routing it to the appropriate specialists for review.

Equipment scoping and procurement coordination:
• Maintain equipment lists, specifications, indicative costs, lead times and procurement priorities in consultation with researchers and the Head of Research Infrastructure.
• Obtain quotations and supplier information through agreed procurement processes.
• Prepare purchase requisitions, track orders, delivery dates and outstanding supplier actions with procurement and finance colleagues.

Laboratory setup and commissioning support:
• Coordinate equipment deliveries, site access, installation appointments and user training with suppliers, lab management team and researchers.
• Maintain readiness checklists for laboratory and plant growth spaces, tracking completion of installation, testing, documentation and outstanding defects.

Stakeholder communication and administrative support:
• Act as a day-to-day contact for delegated matters, obtaining updates and coordinating responses across internal teams and external partners.
• Maintain orderly, shared records and document version control, handle confidential information appropriately, and improve administrative processes as the Institute grows.

Additionally:
• Provide additional operational support to the scientific teams as needed, including potentially supporting procurement processes and coordinating local and international shipments of laboratory samples and materials.

Essential Skills, Qualifications & Experience:
• Experience coordinating projects, operations or complex administrative activity in a research, laboratory, engineering, construction or comparable technical environment.
• A track record of taking responsibility for delegated tasks, organising input from several contributors and following work through to completion.
• Strong planning and prioritisation skills, with the ability to manage competing deadlines and maintain accurate records across several activities.
• Clear written and verbal communication, including the ability to prepare meeting records, concise reports and professional correspondence.
• Confidence working with spreadsheets to maintain trackers, compare quotations and summarise costs, alongside competence in document, presentation and collaboration tools.
• Ability to understand technical information, identify missing details and ask useful questions, while recognising when specialist advice is required.
• A strong working knowledge of common biotechnology and molecular biology laboratory equipment, sample types, processes and workflows along with their inputs, outputs, proper operation and requirements
• Sound judgement, discretion and attention to detail, with confidence to follow up senior colleagues and external partners constructively.
• A relevant qualification or equivalent practical experience in science, engineering or project management.

Desirable Skills, Qualifications & Experience:
Experience supporting laboratory or greenhouse setup, research infrastructure projects, facilities commissioning or equipment installation.
Familiarity with plant science research environments, laboratory workflows or controlled plant growth facilities.
Experience with procurement processes, supplier coordination, asset registers or budget monitoring.
Awareness of laboratory safety, biosafety, certification and documentation requirements in a research environment.
Experience using project management tools or maintaining document control systems, such as Power BI and SharePoint.

Our Benefits:
• Salary dependent on experience + travel allowance + bonus
• Enhanced holiday. Our annual leave allowance is 25 days plus 8 bank holidays and an additional 3 days between Christmas and New Year. You will also have the opportunity to purchase an additional 5 days annual leave in January and July.
• Pension - Employer contribution 7.5%, minimum employee contribution 5%
• Life Assurance.
• Income Protection
• Private Medical Insurance as standard for you, your partner and any dependents. Including hospital Cash Plan
• Employee discounts
• Electric car scheme
• Nursery Salary Sacrifice scheme
• Cycle to Work Scheme
• Family Planning
• Neurodiversity support including advise and assessments
• Coaching & Therapy services

Working Together – What It Involves:
• You must be eligible to work in the UK with a willingness to travel as necessary.
• You must be based in, or within easy commuting distance of, Oxford.
• During peak periods, some longer hours may be required and some working across multiple time zones due to the global nature of the programme.